brew / rank 1210

Install e2fsprogs with Homebrew, apk, apt, dnf, MacPorts, Nix, pacman, zypper

Utilities for the ext2, ext3, and ext4 file systems. Version 1.47.4 via Homebrew; verified from local package data. Also installable with debian: sudo apt install comerr-dev.

Install command Security notes

install

Additional install commands

macOS

Homebrewverified · 100%

brew install e2fsprogs

local Homebrew formula metadata

MacPortsverified · 94%

sudo port install e2fsprogs

MacPorts ports tree · sysutils/e2fsprogs/Portfile · source: api.github.com

Linux

Alpine Linux apkverified · 92%

sudo apk add e2fsprogs

Alpine Linux edge package indexes · e2fsprogs · source: dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org

Debian aptverified · 92%

sudo apt install e2fsprogs

Debian stable package indexes · e2fsprogs · source: deb.debian.org

Fedora dnfverified · 92%

sudo dnf install e2fsprogs

Fedora Rawhide package metadata · e2fsprogs · source: dl.fedoraproject.org

Nixverified · 92%

nix profile install nixpkgs#e2fsprogs

nixpkgs package indexes · pkgs/by-name/e2/e2fsprogs/package.nix · source: api.github.com

Arch Linux pacmanverified · 92%

sudo pacman -S e2fsprogs

Arch Linux sync databases · e2fsprogs · source: geo.mirror.pkgbuild.com

openSUSE zypperverified · 92%

sudo zypper install e2fsprogs

openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata · e2fsprogs · source: download.opensuse.org

overview

Package summary

Utilities for the ext2, ext3, and ext4 file systems

Project links

Homepage

Commands and aliases

badblocks
chattr
debugfs
dumpe2fs
e2freefrag
e2fsck
e2image
e2label
e2mmpstatus
e2scrub
e2scrub_all
e2undo
e4crypt
e4defrag
filefrag
fsck.ext2
fsck.ext3
fsck.ext4
logsave
lsattr
mk_cmds
mkfs.ext2
mkfs.ext3
mkfs.ext4
mklost+found
resize2fs
tune2fs

history

Project history and usage

e2fsprogs is the canonical user-space toolkit for the Linux ext2, ext3, and ext4 filesystem family. It includes the programs administrators recognize by muscle memory: `mke2fs` and `mkfs.ext*` to create filesystems, `e2fsck` and `fsck.ext*` to check and repair them, `tune2fs`, `dumpe2fs`, `debugfs`, `resize2fs`, `badblocks`, attribute tools, and supporting libraries such as libext2fs.

Project history

The project has been maintained for decades by Theodore Ts'o and is distributed as the second extended filesystem management programs. Official release notes in the kernel.org repository show e2fsprogs 1.02 dated 1996-01-16, while the libext2fs manual documents Theodore Ts'o's library work from 1997 onward.

As ext filesystems evolved, e2fsprogs evolved with them. It began as tooling for ext2, became core to ext3 journaled filesystem administration, and then tracked ext4-era features such as extents, flex_bg, metadata checksums, bigalloc, encryption, casefolding, fast commits, and orphan-file support.

The project is both end-user tool suite and library substrate. The libext2fs manual describes a user-level library for manipulating ext2 filesystems, and related tools such as e2tools build on that library rather than implementing ext filesystem parsing from scratch.

Adoption history

e2fsprogs became infrastructure software because ext filesystems became default or common Linux filesystems across distributions, installers, rescue environments, embedded systems, and image-building pipelines. Its tools are packaged by essentially every general-purpose Linux distribution and by cross-platform package managers where users need to inspect Linux filesystems from non-Linux hosts.

Release notes show its maintenance responding to distribution bug reports, kernel feature additions, filesystem fuzzing, Coverity findings, and very-large-filesystem performance. That history is part of why the package is treated as a base-system dependency rather than an optional convenience.

How it is used

Administrators and installers use e2fsprogs to create, check, repair, resize, label, inspect, tune, and debug ext-family filesystems. Typical commands include `mkfs.ext4`, `e2fsck`, `resize2fs`, `tune2fs`, `dumpe2fs`, `debugfs`, `e2image`, `filefrag`, `chattr`, and `lsattr`.

The toolkit is also used outside ordinary mounted filesystems: recovery workflows run `e2fsck`, image builders run `mke2fs` against files, developers inspect metadata with `debugfs` and `dumpe2fs`, and downstream tools use libext2fs to manipulate disk images without going through the kernel mount path.

Why package nerds care

For package nerds, e2fsprogs is one of the rare packages that is simultaneously mundane and load-bearing. It is a formula in Homebrew, a package in major Linux distributions, a rescue-disk staple, a cross-build dependency, and a version-sensitive companion to Linux kernel filesystem features.

Its release notes are a map of Linux storage history: new kernel features land, then user-space tools learn to create, repair, report, or safely ignore them. Packaging the right e2fsprogs version matters because old user-space can misunderstand newer filesystem feature bits.

Timeline

1996-01-16: e2fsprogs 1.02 release notes document early ext2 filesystem tool maintenance.
1997: libext2fs manual copyright begins, documenting a user-level library for manipulating ext2 filesystems.
2010: e2fsprogs 1.41 release notes show ext4-era support work around flex_bg, ext4 mount defaults, direct I/O in debugfs, discard-aware mke2fs, and large filesystem handling.
2015: e2fsprogs 1.42.13 includes security and robustness fixes, including CVE-2015-1572 in libext2fs.
2021: e2fsprogs 1.46.0 adds support for fast_commit, stable_inodes, encryption plus casefolding, and fuse2fs improvements.
2023: e2fsprogs 1.47.0 adds support for orphan_file and makes newer ext4 features default through mke2fs configuration.

Related projects

Related projects include the Linux kernel ext2/ext3/ext4 drivers, e2tools, fuse2fs, distribution initramfs/rescue tooling, filesystem image builders, and package-manager formulas that expose the tools on non-Linux hosts.
e2tools is a particularly close neighbor: its README states that it directly uses the ext2fs library from e2fsprogs to read and write ext filesystem images without mounting them.

Sources

security posture

Risk level: blue

broad file, network, media, or database tool signal.

Risk classifier

blue risk · medium confidence · tool

Why

broad file, network, media, or database tool signal

Signals

text:image

Install behavior

No Homebrew bottle metadata was recorded.

Recommended review

Before unattended agent use, check whether the tool reads plaintext credentials, writes remote state, publishes artifacts, or shells out to plugins.

executables

Installed executables

Command	Kind	Exposure	Note
`badblocks`	executable	indexed executable	Discovered from the local executable index.
`chattr`	executable	indexed executable	Discovered from the local executable index.
`debugfs`	executable	indexed executable	Discovered from the local executable index.
`dumpe2fs`	executable	indexed executable	Discovered from the local executable index.
`e2freefrag`	executable	indexed executable	Discovered from the local executable index.
`e2fsck`	executable	indexed executable	Discovered from the local executable index.
`e2image`	executable	indexed executable	Discovered from the local executable index.
`e2label`	executable	indexed executable	Discovered from the local executable index.
`e2mmpstatus`	executable	indexed executable	Discovered from the local executable index.
`e2scrub`	executable	indexed executable	Discovered from the local executable index.
`e2scrub_all`	executable	indexed executable	Discovered from the local executable index.
`e2undo`	executable	indexed executable	Discovered from the local executable index.
`e4crypt`	executable	indexed executable	Discovered from the local executable index.
`e4defrag`	executable	indexed executable	Discovered from the local executable index.
`filefrag`	executable	indexed executable	Discovered from the local executable index.
`fsck.ext2`	executable	indexed executable	Discovered from the local executable index.
`fsck.ext3`	executable	indexed executable	Discovered from the local executable index.
`fsck.ext4`	executable	indexed executable	Discovered from the local executable index.
`logsave`	executable	indexed executable	Discovered from the local executable index.
`lsattr`	executable	indexed executable	Discovered from the local executable index.
`mk_cmds`	executable	indexed executable	Discovered from the local executable index.
`mkfs.ext2`	executable	indexed executable	Discovered from the local executable index.
`mkfs.ext3`	executable	indexed executable	Discovered from the local executable index.
`mkfs.ext4`	executable	indexed executable	Discovered from the local executable index.
`mklost+found`	executable	indexed executable	Discovered from the local executable index.
`resize2fs`	executable	indexed executable	Discovered from the local executable index.
`tune2fs`	executable	indexed executable	Discovered from the local executable index.

freshness

Version and freshness

These signals separate page generation age, package-manager activity, and upstream release comparison. Version lag is warned only when an evidence URL and comparable versions are present.

page generated2026-08-03

manager version1.47.4

manager updated

local dataunknown

upstreamnot available

latest detectednot detected

okNo freshness warnings were generated.

install metadata

Package metadata

Package key	brew:e2fsprogs
Version	1.47.4
Package manager	Homebrew
Homepage	https://e2fsprogs.sourceforge.net/
Bottle	not recorded
Service	none declared

source database matches

Other package-manager records

Matches are pulled from external package-manager indexes and kept separate from local Automic Vault package links.

Debian apt95%

comerr-dev 2.1-1.47.2-3+b11

common error description library - headers and static libraries